Monterey

We finished off packing up our things in SF this morning before heading a couple of blocks from our hotel to the Budget rental place to pick up our car. We decided to upgrade to a larger car (for an extra 7 dollars per day!) and then went back to the hotel to pick up our bags.

Heading out of SF was fairly easy. We zigzagged through the grid of streets until we came to Highway 1 and then stayed on it.

Scenery on the way down was lovely. For the majority of the time we stayed very close to the Pacific Ocean. We stopped off in Santa Cruz and went to the Boardwalk where we enjoyed playing in the arcades. Jake won lots of tickets (partly thanks to Nicky hitting the jackpot on one of the machines). We had corndogs on a stick for lunch! Weather was glorious.

Arrived in Monterey at about 3pm and checked into the very posh Intercontinental Clement Hotel. Had a look around Cannery Row and Jake and I played ball on the beach (with one of his prizes from the arcade).

We had dinner at Bubba Gump's which is next door to the hotel. Jake really wants to see the film now. The place was full of Forrest Gump stuff - signs saying "I cut the grass for free", pictures of Lieutenant Dan, Jake's meal arriving in a Jenny shrimping boat, and so on.

We're slobbing out at the hotel now. Off to the aquarium tomorrow.

Alcatraz and Angel

And so our time in SF is coming towards an end, but we've had a great day to round it off.

We started off by heading down to Pier 33 to get our Alcatraz tickets. There was a moment of panic when it looked like they were sold out for the day, but thankfully it turned out that there were some tickets left for the Alcatraz plus Angel Island tour. We had no idea what Angel Island was all about but the boat was going in ten minutes so we said yes to the tickets and jumped on board.

First stop Alcatraz after a fifteen minute ride and some more photos (Nicky is wondering whether I'll have taken more photos of the Golden Gate bridge this holiday than of the Disney castle!!). Walked up the hill to the main prison building and did the audio tour. Fascinating stuff. Turns out that there was an escape in 1962 when three inmates dug holes in their cell walls and climbed out through the service space between the cells. Got off the island and were never seen again. Sounds more than a little bit Shawshank. Bought a book to learn more about it.

Back to the dock at midday for the ride to Angel Island where we had a tram tour. Island is now a national park (as is Alcatraz). Formerly used as an army base and as the West coast's Ellis Island. We all really enjoyed the extra bit of our tour and were glad that we'd ended up with this bonus to our day.

Water was surprisingly choppy on the way back to Pier 33 and then to Pier 39 for some more arcade fun before coming back to the hotel.

Wine and apple cider at the hotel before heading back out. Went to Ghiradelli's square and picked up some chocolate before going to Capurro's (restaurant opposite the hotel) for dinner. This time I did get my clam chowder in a bread bowl.

Off down the coast tomorrow.

Sent from my iPod

An Apple a day - nearly

Not up too early. Got cable car into city. Stood on the edge. Rain stopped earlier than expected. Went to Apple store. Out of ipads. Did shopping. Jake got new games. Went back to Apple store. Ipads had been delivered. Bought one. Went to Cheesecake factory at Macy's. Had lentil soup. Key lime cheesecake. Not as nice as Jake's white chocolate and raspberry swirl. Rode the F market streetcar back to hotel. Discovered that need to sync ipad with iTunes before using. Bummer. Had free glass of wine at hotel. Ice cream from Ben & Jerry's next door. Finished Cannery Row. Enjoyed it. Tired now. Going to bed.

Sent from my iPod (not my ipad)

Rainy day

Picking up where I left off yesterday, we went out for a wander in the afternoon walking up the amazingly steep Hyde Street and taking some photos at the top of Lombard Street (the famous windy road) before carrying on to Union Street and having a browse in a few shops and some dinner.

We walked home a different way to avoid the hills, but still had tired feet ready for bed by the time we got back.

Didn't wake up quite as early this morning and we went out and got the cable car over to Union Square. Had coffee and muffins for breakfast at Borders. Got a copy of Steinbeck's Cannery Row - seemed appropriate given our next destination.

We were going to get on the tour bus from Union Square but lots of others had the same idea so we hopped in a cab to the California Academy of Science. Excellent museum and a great place to spend a rainy day in San Francisco.

We canned it back to Fisherman's Wharf and had a late lunch at Johnny Rockets. Stopped in to Walgreens for a few provisions and spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out at the hotel. Just ordered some room service - I'm having a bread bowl of clam chowder.

Forecast says it will be rainy again tomorrow. Shopping is planned. Hopefully dry and getting warmer from Tuesday.

Sent from my iPod

Enjoying SF

Time for a blog update. Blogging via email using iPod touch and the Argonaut wireless network (which is also enabling me to tweet and Nicky to post pictures and updates to Facebook). Ain't technology grand!

Seen Dad's comment on my previous post. Welcome to the 21st century now that broadband has finally arrived with you. Keep them coming - nice to know that someone is reading my posts.

So flight over went smoothly. We all managed to get a bit of shut eye, so hopefully the jet lag won't be too bad. I read my Grisham book and Nicky and Jake enjoyed a few movies.

We landed at about quarter past two and I think we were in our taxi by about three. Turned out that we were on the same flight as Jonathan Ross and his family. Nicky got his autograph for Jake at baggage claim!

We arrived at the Argonaut in the rain and our room is very nice. We couldn't really appreciate that we had a room with a view because of the misty and rainy conditions, but now we can see the Golden Gate bridge very clearly from our window.

Once we'd unpacked the rain had stopped so we went for a little stroll to Ghiradelli's Square and had some tea at Lori's Diner. Then back to the hotel for an early night.

We were all awake stupidly early this morning so we watched a bit of TV (J watched the Chelsea game!) before heading out at about half past seven. Turns out that the Fisherman's Wharf area doesn't really open up until about nine. We had breakfast at Denny's and we were on the first open top tour bus of the day. It was pretty cold up top, but we stuck it out almost all the way round including over the Golden Gate before heading downstairs for the return the other way. Lots of photos!

The bus dropped us about 100 yards from our hotel, so we stopped in at Starbucks for a thawing hot chocolate before popping back to the hotel.

Since then we've been out for a walk along the wharf area and been to Pier 39 - saw the sealions. Now back for an afternoon nap and to contemplate our next move. I expect we'll be back out later - the sun is out and the forecast is fir rain for the next couple of days so we should make the most of it.

Our tour bus tickets are still valid tomorrow and a nice lady gave us a couple of tram tickets earlier on which are value for the next two days so we should be getting around OK even if the weather does take a turn for the worse.

Right, time for a nap.

Sent from my iPod

The airport lounge post

In accordance with tradition, here is the post from the gate lounge at the airport. We are safely arrived here in good time, Nicky is reading Hello and Jake is playing on his PSP.

This morning has gone smoothly. Uncle Martin arrived at half past six and we loaded up and hit the road. We were here by a quarter to eight and despite the airport feeling fairly busy, check in and security had short queues.

Had breakfast at Chez Gerrard (OK but not as good as F&B at Gatwick) and being true creatures of habit, or shopping purchases at the airport were the same as always - game and new headphones for Jake, Grisham and ken ken books for me, and perfume and magazine for Nicky.

Hopefully we'll be boarding soon. I think we're all looking forward to a good snooze on the way to San Francisco!

Five days

So, the countdown is nearly complete and this time next week we'll be in San Francisco (I'd like to say sunny San Francisco but looking at the latest forecasts I'm not too sure).

Jake and I had haircuts yesterday morning, and when Jane asked Jake what he was looking forward to, the first thing that he mentioned was visiting the Ghiradelli chocolate factory - love it! Don't know if we'll manage to bring any home as if we go there fairly early in our holiday, my guess is that we'll have devoured everything we buy long before we leave LA. Perhaps we should see if we can get some shipped directly to home.

Our home improvement plans are coming along well. We had a new garage door fitted this week, and this means that Mike can start on the conversion project as soon as we get back from holiday (turning the garage into a storage space at the front and a games room behind). We've had the window survey done, so hopefully our new windows and doors are being made, and can be fitted not long after we get back from California. Also Nicky had obtained a few quotes for doing brick paving across the driveway and front garden, and I think we've decided who we will be going ahead with. Should be quite a transformation at home over the next few months.

I finished off Chris Evans' book earlier this week. A good read and I'm looking forward to the next installment. Looking at his twitter posts it sounds like most of the writing for his next book has been done, and it should be out later thuis year. (Also from his tweets he went to Disneyland Paris for Friday and Saturday - sounds like it rained!)

I know that going to San Francisco and down the coast is going to be fantastic, but I'm really looking forward to going to Disneyland and seeing where it all began, adding another two Disney parks to our done list. I'm prepared for the castle to be a big disappointment compared with Orlando and Paris, but have high hopes for the rest of the parks, as well as staying on their doorstep at the Grand Californian villas. By staying there Sunday to Thursday night we're getting a really good deal with our DVC points.

The other exciting news is that we've just paid up for some more points (home resort Bay Lake Towers) and should have plenty of points for lots more Disney holidays. Given the plans we already have for 2010 we'll probably end up carrying forward some of this year's points, but should give us scope to have lots more fun in 2011.